Feature image above: The Interstate 30 crossing in downtown Little Rock carries about 120,000 vehicles in and out of the city each day, according to ARDOT. (Photo courtesy of ARDOT)
Those dreaded orange barrels have come to be the bane of a commuter’s morning drive, but they are also a sign of progress. As infrastructure ages and the population grows, the demand for efficient and safe road systems has never been greater.
In Arkansas, construction firms are leveraging technology and strategic planning to deliver major projects.
Weaver-Bailey Contractors, an Arkansas-based construction company founded in 1967, has seen a lot of changes in the field throughout that time.
Today, the company is leading several major projects, including Interstate 57 through Jacksonville. It is a $150 million project and one of the last projects being funded from a bond issued 10 years ago, company president Don Weaver said.
Don Weaver
The project was about 60 percent complete as of April, which Weaver said is about a year ahead of schedule.
“That’s good news for everybody,” he said.
The company is also handling a $120 million expansion along 4 miles of U.S. 67 and a new taxiway at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock.
Weaver-Bailey is working on more projects than ever before.
“We had a record-volume year last year, and we’ll probably exceed that this year,” Weaver said. “There are more projects coming.”
Garrett Excavating, based in Benton and now with an office in Bentonville, has done much excavation in northwest Arkansas. (Photo courtesy of GarrettX)
Another Arkansas-based company, Garrett Excavating, is also working on multiple projects across the state. One of its largest current efforts is the $130 million Northwest Arkansas National Airport connector via the Arkansas 612 bypass. Garrett’s part of the project is valued at $28 million, and the whole project is about $130 million. Its crews are contracted to do all the asphalt work, the base rock and two-thirds of the earthwork, said Dalton Nokes, Garrett’s vice president for northwest field operations.
Dalton Nokes
For that project, the team has moved about 800,000 yards of dirt and 120,000 tons of gravel and will use 60,000 tons of asphalt. Nokes said the company estimates a 2027 summer completion.
In a shift from past projects, the Arkansas Department of Transportation completed its first “design-build” project late last year with the completion of the Interstate 30 crossing.
The expanded I-30 crossing project in Little Rock was completed late last year. (Photo courtesy of ARDOT)
“We knew it was going to be a pretty daunting task,” said Keli Wylie, assistant chief engineer for program delivery.
Keli Wylie
Using the design-build model meant ARDOT could get started while only having the plans around 30 percent completed as opposed to design-bid-build, in which the plans have to be fully completed before companies bid for the project.
It also meant the contractors ARDOT was working with became a part of the project early and were able to advise the process.
I-30 carries about 120,000 vehicles in and out of the city every day, so ARDOT knew minimizing disruptions to traffic during the project would be vital, Wylie said.
The public input and planning for the project began back in 2014, and Wylie said ARDOT had seven public meetings throughout this project to make sure the public was being listened to and involved.
“We truly listened to local stakeholders,” Wylie said. “We listened to the public and revised the project to be minimum impact and also maximum access to downtown.”
She said there was some innovative new technology used on the project, which included an autonomous robot programmed to tie steel rebar on the bridge.
The use of new technology to aid the road-building process is also being embraced at Weaver-Bailey and Garrett Excavating.
Weaver-Bailey has been utilizing 3D modeling on equipment, which can be programmed to do most of the work while the operator drives the machine.
Weaver also said the planning and administration work has all gone paperless as paper blueprints are replaced with iPad-based plans and real-time data tracking.
Nokes said his company now also implements technology such as drones to aid with surveying.
“For a long time, construction people were kind of adverse to technology,” Nokes said. “When it first started to come out, it wasn’t very reliable. Now technology has gotten so good that I would say 95 percent of the time, we can rely on the technology.”
Nowadays, many new machines come equipped with ways to correct user errors built in. That means people with less experience can still successfully use these machines.
Technology has been allowing roadbuilders to get projects done more efficiently, meaning they have been able to take on more.
“We’ve been able to take on a lot more work, and our company has grown substantially over the past six or seven years,” Nokes said.
However, it can be a bumpy ride for companies that build roads in the state.
There are fewer people going into trades work, meaning the companies are looking at an impending employee shortage. The number of people retiring from trades way exceeds the number of people coming into those jobs.
He said that is because there was such a focus on having students go to college rather than into a trade, and he hopes that that stigma will dissipate.
“[Trade jobs| are a great way to make a living and a great way to provide for your family and a great way to live a fulfilling life,” he said.
Weaver said civil engineers are in short supply, as well, but at Weaver-Bailey, there are internships programs to try to recruit talent to the company before the student even graduates from college.
Additionally, economic uncertainty, funding cuts and tariffs have caused some companies to have to wait to see how that will affect them and their projects.
Nokes said that some clients have decided to expedite projects before material costs rise, while other clients are shelving projects for now to see what the future brings.
Garrett did the asphalt work on Gator Boulevard in Bentonville. (Photo courtesy of GarrettX)
Weaver noted that 3,200 projects had been put on hold due to grant cuts, but they are in the review process now.
Currently, about 10 projects are held up in Arkansas, he said.
“Hopefully, all of those will pass the new administration’s new guidelines,” he added.
Overall, Arkansas brings with it a lot of opportunities for roadbuilders throughout the state.
Wylie said it is important for ARDOT to take a holistic approach when it comes to what projects to do. She said the department accounts for high-traffic areas but also has to make sure no corners of the state have roads that get neglected.
There are more than 16,000 miles of state highway and 7,300 bridges for which ARDOT is responsible.
“We do the best we can do to maintain what we have,” she said.
Nokes noted that companies have success if they can do a lot of things, since Arkansas has so many different industries housed within it.
“Arkansas is such a dynamic state. Between agriculture, the industrial and then with northwest Arkansas, all the commercial growth, we’ve had to adapt to all that,” he said.
Still, the company is happy to be building roads in the Natural State.
“We take a lot of pride in being an Arkansas-based company,” he said.
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